How are women accelerating the sustainable energy transition? Five Nordic perspectives

Participants at Vaasa Climate Change Conference & Networking Forum gathered on September 27 to listen to presentations by women in the energy sector from the five Nordic countries. The session “How are women accelerating the sustainable energy transition?” was organised by the Nordic Energy Equality Network (NEEN). NEEN aims to bring voices together from the whole sector such as academia, government and business, and this was reflected by the five speakers’ different backgrounds.

The first to speak was journalist and senior
consultant Viktoria Raft, who is one of the initiators of the Swedish network Kraftkvinnorna.
Kraftkvinnorna was established in 2015 with the purpose to make women in the
energy sector more visible. The network works to highlight role models to
attract more women to the sector, and to increase the share of women in
steering boards and management groups. Raft spoke about the fact that the
energy sector needs to attract more women not only because of the equality
issue but simply because it needs to be revitalized; a lot of people are
approaching retirement and recruitment of people of all genders is necessary.
At the same time, the energy sector faces higher demand for customer friendly
solutions and adaptation to smart technology. Raft underlined the importance of
attracting people from different backgrounds, cultures and ages, because this
mix of diverse perspectives is what will make a difference to make the sector
succeed with these challenges.

Next speaker was professor Marie Münster from the
Technical University of Denmark (DTU). Münster has worked within the fields of
energy planning and renewable energy technologies since 2000 and highlighted in
her presentation some of the arguments for equality as a necessary component in
the energy sector. She pointed out research showing that climate change can be
solved, if women are involved in the workforce. In a so called full potential
scenario, where women and men have equal roles to play in the labour market,
the global annual GDP could be increased more than enough to fund the battle
against climate change. Münster emphasized the impotance of every gender being
represented, and quoted Carlos Moedas, European Commissioner for Research,
Science and Innovation: “Gender Equality is not only a matter of concern for
women; it must matter to all of us. If we want to take scientific excellence to
the next level; if we want to deliver science-based solutions to the many
urgent and pressing global challenges, we need all talents in play.” Münster
finished by encouraging women in the sector demand the salary they deserve,
promote and give women recognition and supplement each other.

Pirjo Jantunen, business development manager at Helen
in Finland, was the session’s third speaker. Jantunen works with the
development of smart building solutions and the improvement of organisations’
and stakeholders’ responsibility in shaping the energy system of tomorrow.
Jantunen spoke about the importance about diversity at workplaces, again
arguing that this is necessary to boost the green energy transition. Different
backgrounds create different thoughts, and in the end a more innovative
workforce. Jantunen explained the lack of diversity by pointing at the energy
industry as quite stable, and when maintaining this stability, the group of
employees continues being homogenous. She moved on to talk about research
showing levels of bias, and that stereotypes about male and female values run
deep in our culture. Jantunen argued that this is visible from childhood and
how children are raised, which in the end may affect education and career
choices. She stressed the importance of encouraging girls to study STEM
(science, technology, engineering and mathematics) subjects, but also that the
energy sector should challenge stereotypes and recruit outside STEM as well.
Jantunen finished by pointing at a person challenging these stereotypes,
climate activist Greta Thunberg, who was clearly in the spotlight after giving
a speech at the UN Climate Summit in New York the same week.

Fourth speaker was Karina Barnholt Klepper, senior
consultant at Nordic Energy Research, a Nordic organisation based in Norway. Barnholt
Klepper is also chair of NEEN and spoke about the process and the drivers that
led to the establishment of the network, working for gender equality and
diversity in the Nordic energy sector. She followed up on Jantunens message on
boys and girls stereotypes and made an example from Norwegian documentary
series “F-ordet” where actress and activist Ulrikke Falch investigates how
“feminist” has become a negative word. In the series, Falch looks at Norwegian high
school students’ choice of education programmes and finds that traditional gender
stereotypes in many ways persists, not only in education choices but also when
it comes to lifestyles. Barnholt Klepper concluded that there is a substantial
challenge ahead, to change societies expectations based on gender roles.

The morning’s fifth and last speaker was Ragnheiður
Elín Árnadóttir, former Icelandic Minister of Energy. Árnadóttir brought up the
latest report published by Women
in Icelandic Energy 2019, “Gender
Diversity in the Icelandic Energy Sector”, and
concluded that the report shows that things are improving, especially in
Icelandic board rooms, but that there still is a long way to go. Árnadóttir
confirmed that by her experience, the so-called glass ceiling situations
happens often to women in both business and politics. A woman that takes a lot
of space is often perceived as a threat. Árnadóttir also agreed with the
previous speakers regarding diversity, stressing that diversity makes economic
sense and is good for business.

The session continued with a panel debate moderated by
Suvi Karirinne, director of Vaasa Energy Business Innovation Centre. Karirinne
started by bringing up the fact that the higher up in academia one looks, the
less percentage of women there is. What is going wrong?

Münster confirmed that in her field, many women are
educated in the field but do not continue as engineers and suggested that part
of the reason was so-called stumbling blocks that will make women leave. The
balance between family and work life is one of these stumbling blocks and
happens for example when classes are scheduled in the evenings, making it
difficult for young women with families to attend. Another fact is that
researcher’s success in their careers is often dependent on doing a couple of
years abroad, which seems to be no obstacle for men but for women it can be a challenge.
Raft argued that this again had to do with gender stereotypes and expectations,
indicating that there is an unbalance in society. Árnadóttir commented that the
general impression is that men and women are equal in 2019, but we are still
discussing the same issues since we have not achieved the equality level.

The panel also discussed the issue of quotation and
competence. Münster noted that women tend to ask themselves if they are skilled
enough for a position and if they were chosen because of their gender. She
pointed out that a man would hardly ask himself that, and that women simply
need to realise that they are qualified and that this is enough. Barnholt
Klepper added that research environments tend to require more of women; more
papers and better papers. However, for a woman taking time off for maternity
leave, this simply will not add up. Árnadóttir agreed that women often face
unfair standards and that there is always a “but”: She is well educated but
difficult to work with, she is qualified but might not be able to work
overtime, and so on. Árnadóttir concluded by saying that the rules of the game
were made by men centuries ago and it needs to change:
“We are finally on the guest list, we are invited to the party, but it is not
enough – we need to be the party planners.”

Representing five different countries and five
different parts of the energy sector, the speakers clearly had similar
experiences as well as outlooks for the future. There was an agreement on the
importance of inclusion, diversity and about bringing all perspectives into the
task of accelerating the sustainable energy transition. Finally, all agreed
that despite its flaws when it comes to questions on gender and diversity, the
energy sector is also very fun to work within. The job is motivating and has an
impact on sustainability, and the sector definitely has an important job to do
with communicating this in order to attract a more diverse workforce.